Fight Stats- How Have UFC Fights Finished in 2017?

As we’re currently enjoying a rare break from regular UFC action, I thought now would be a good time to take account of 2017 so far, specifically in terms of how fights are finishing.

These pie charts below display each of the ways a fight can possibly finish, and how frequently each finish-type has occurred.

Here’s a look at 2017’s results to start:

2017 has seen 52% of its 130 fights go to the judges’ scorecards. This is above last year’s figure of 50%, as well as the historic (pre-2017) figure of 43%, but we’ll take a look at those in a bit more detail in a moment.

Of these 67 decisions, judges’ agreed on 46 unanimously, whilst the remaining 21 verdicts were either split or majority decisions.

This means around 31% of all decisions in 2017 were in some way disputed (either split or majority verdicts). In 2016, that figure was around 27%, and the historic figure is around 24%. It seems judges are finding it harder than usual to get on the same page in 2017.

29% of fights have ended via TKO/KO stoppage in 2017 (down from 31% in 2016 and 33% historically), whilst 19% of fights culminated in a submission (up from 18% in 2016, but down from 23% historically). We’ve yet to see a DQ or a No Contest in 2017.

Here’s a look at how last year’s results compare:

Generally speaking, UFC results are relatively consistent. As you can see, there’s not much variation in any category, except perhaps in the amount of split/majority decisions as a proportion of all decisions.

Things do start to change slightly when we look at all the data pre-2017:

56% of fights resulted in a finish pre-2017, compared to 48% in 2017. Submission finishes were noticeably more common during the UFC’s formative years, where jiu-jitsu specialists could routinely exploit those with under-developed grappling knowledge.

Ultimately though, even the pre-2017 chart does not show a huge amount of variation. Perhaps the chaos of MMA is more consistent than it looks.

About the Author:

Nick Dwyer.
Nick is a 27-year-old MMA writer who has been part of #TeamEverlast for 2 years now, contributing weekly 'Dwyer Score' columns as well as statistical analyses and fighter interviews. Follow Nick on Twitter at @NickDwyerMMA.